אשכנז )דמות מקראית( Ashkenaz אַשְׁ כְׁ נַז, דמות מקראית, היה בנו הראשון של גומר בן יפת .ונינו של נֹחַ )בראשית י' 2-3( http://www.morfix.co.il/en/Ashkenaz אשכנזי :English translation results for אַשְׁ כְׁ נַזִּי שֵ ם Ashkenazic (person) (Jew of East European or Western origin) אַשְׁ כְׁ נַזִּי תואר Ashkenazic (pertaining to Jews of East European or Western origin) http://www.morfix.co.il/en/%D7%90%D6%B7%D7%A9%D6%B0%D7%81%D7%9B%D6%B0%D6%BC%D7 %A0%D6%B7%D7%96%D6%B4%D6%BC%D7%99 Ạšəkənạzziy Descended from Yiddish/Yiyḏiyš–speaking European Jews Contents 1 Ashkenazi Jews 1 1.1 Etymology ............................................... 2 1.2 History ................................................. 2 1.2.1 History of Jews in Europe before the Ashkenazim ...................... 2 1.2.2 High and Late Middle Ages migrations ............................ 3 1.2.3 Medieval references ...................................... 4 1.2.4 Modern history ........................................ 4 1.3 Definition ............................................... 6 1.3.1 By religion .......................................... 6 1.3.2 By culture ........................................... 7 1.3.3 By ethnicity .......................................... 7 1.4 Customs, laws and traditions ..................................... 8 1.4.1 Ashkenazic liturgy ...................................... 8 1.4.2 Ashkenazi as a surname .................................... 8 1.5 Relations with Sephardim ....................................... 9 1.6 Notable Ashkenazim ......................................... 9 1.7 Genetics ................................................ 9 1.7.1 Genetic origins ........................................ 9 1.7.2 The Khazar hypothesis .................................... 12 1.7.3 Medical genetics ....................................... 12 1.8 See also ................................................ 12 1.9 References ............................................... 12 1.9.1 References for “Who is an Ashkenazi Jew?" ......................... 18 1.9.2 Other references ....................................... 19 1.10 External links ............................................. 19 2 Ashkenaz 20 2.1 Hebrew Bible ............................................. 20 2.2 Medieval reception .......................................... 20 2.2.1 Rabbinic Judaism ....................................... 20 2.2.2 Ashkenazi Jews ........................................ 21 2.2.3 Armenian tradition ...................................... 21 2.2.4 German royal genealogy ................................... 21 i ii CONTENTS 2.3 References ............................................... 22 2.4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses .......................... 23 2.4.1 Text .............................................. 23 2.4.2 Images ............................................ 24 2.4.3 Content license ........................................ 26 Chapter 1 Ashkenazi Jews For other uses, see Ashkenaz (disambiguation). In the late Middle Ages, the majority of the Ashkenazi population shifted steadily eastward,[24] moving out of the Holy Roman Empire into the Pale of Settlement (com- prising parts of present-day Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine).[25][26] In the course of the late 18th and 19th centuries, those Jews who remained in or returned to the German lands ex- perienced a cultural reorientation; under the influence of the Haskalah and the struggle for emancipation, as well as the intellectual and cultural ferment in urban centers, they gradually abandoned the use of Yiddish, while de- veloping new forms of Jewish religious life and cultural identity.[27] The genocidal impact of the Holocaust (the mass murder of approximately six million Jews during World War II) devastated the Ashkenazim and their culture, affecting al- most every Jewish family.[28][29] It is estimated that in the 11th century Ashkenazi Jews composed only three per- The Jews in Central Europe (1881) cent of the world’s total Jewish population, while at their peak in 1931 they accounted for 92 percent of the world’s Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Jews. Immediately prior to the Holocaust, the number of [30] .Ashkenazi He- Jews in the world stood at approximately 16.7 million , ַאְׁשְּכַנִּזים :simply Ashkenazim (Hebrew brew pronunciation: [ˌaʃkəˈnazim], singular: [ˌaʃkəˈnazi], Statistical figures vary for the contemporary demography [1] of Ashkenazi Jews, oscillating between 10 million and ְיהּוֵדי ַאְׁשְּכַנז Modern Hebrew: [aʃkenaˈzim, aʃkenaˈzi]; also [2] Y'hudey Ashkenaz),[16] are a Jewish diaspora population 11.2 million. Sergio DellaPergola in a rough calculation who coalesced as a distinct community in the Holy Ro- of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, implies that Ashkenazi [31] man Empire around the end of the first millennium.[17] Jews make up less than 74% of Jews worldwide. Other estimates place Ashkenazi Jews as making up about 75% The traditional diaspora language of Ashkenazi Jews of Jews worldwide.[32] is Yiddish (which incorporates several dialects), with Hebrew used only as a sacred language until rela- Genetic studies on Ashkenazim—researching both their tively recently. Throughout their time in Europe, paternal and maternal lineages—suggest a significant Ashkenazim have made many important contributions proportion of Middle Eastern ancestry. Those studies to philosophy, scholarship, literature, art, music, and have arrived at diverging conclusions regarding both the science.[18][19][20][21] degree and the sources of their European ancestry, and have generally focused on the extent of the European ge- Ashkenazim originate from the Jews who settled along netic origin observed in Ashkenazi maternal lineages.[33] the Rhine River, in Western Germany and Northern Ashkenazi Jews are popularly contrasted with Sephardi [22] France. There they became a distinct diaspora com- Jews (also called Sephardim), who descend from Jews munity with a unique way of life that adapted tradi- who settled in the Iberian Peninsula, and Mizrahi Jews, tions from Babylon, The Land of Israel, and the Western who descend from Jews who remained in the Middle East. [23] Mediterranean to their new environment. The Ashke- There are some differences in how the groups pronounce nazi religious rite developed in cities such as Mainz, certain Hebrew letters, and in points of ritual. Worms, and Troyes. The eminent French Rishon Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki (Rashi) would have a significant impact on the Jewish religion. 1 2 CHAPTER 1. ASHKENAZI JEWS 1.1 Etymology 1.2 History 1.2.1 History of Jews in Europe before the Ashkenazim The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz, the first son of Gomer, son of Japhet, son Outside of their origins in ancient Israel, the history of of Noah, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Na- Ashkenazim is shrouded in mystery,[48] and many theo- tions (Genesis 10). The name of Gomer has often been ries have arisen speculating on their emergence as a dis- linked to the ethnonym Cimmerians. Biblical Ashke- tinct community of Jews.[49] The most well-supported naz is usually derived from Assyrian Aškūza (cuneiform theory is the one that details a Jewish migration from Is- Aškuzai/Iškuzai), a people who expelled the Cimmeri- rael through what is now Italy and other parts of southern ans from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates,[34] Europe.[50] The historical record attests to Jewish com- whose name is usually associated with the name of the munities in southern Europe since pre-Christian times.[51] Scythians.[35][36] The intrusive n in the Biblical name is Many Jews were denied full Roman citizenship until 212 with a nun CE when Emperor Caracalla granted all free peoples this ו likely due to a scribal error confusing a waw privilege. Jews were required to pay a poll tax until the [38[]37[]36נ.] reign of Emperor Julian in 363. In the late Roman Em- In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz figures as one of three king- pire, Jews were free to form networks of cultural and doms in the far north, the others being Minni and Ararat, religious ties and enter into various local occupations. perhaps corresponding to Urartu, called on by God to re- [38][39] But, after Christianity became the official religion of sist Babylon. Rome and Constantinople in 380, Jews were increasingly In the Yoma tractate of the Babylonian Talmud the name marginalized. Gomer is rendered as Germania, which elsewhere in rab- The history of Jews in Greece goes back to at least the binical literature was identified with Germanikia in north- Archaic Era of Greece, when the classical culture of western Syria, but later became associated with Ger- Greece was undergoing a process of formalization after mania. Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia, viewed the Greek Dark Age. The Greek historian Herodotus as the cradle of Germanic tribes, as early as a 6th- [40] knew of the Jews, whom he called “Palestinian Syrians”, century gloss to the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius. and listed them among the levied naval forces in ser- In the 10th-century History of Armenia of Yovhannes vice of the invading Persians. While Jewish monothe- Drasxanakertc'i (1.15) Ashkenaz was associated with ism was not deeply affected by Greek Polytheism, the Armenia,[41] as it was occasionally in Jewish usage, where Greek way of living was attractive for many wealthier its denotation extended at times to Adiabene, Khazaria, Jews.[52] The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is dated Crimea and areas to the east.[42] His contemporary